The present invention relates to hermetic terminal structural assemblies and more particularly to retainer structure for hermetic terminal assemblies which maximizes over-surface distances and protects glass surrounding pins.
In the hermetic terminal assembly art, a number of construction arrangements have been utilized to prevent conductive pins, which pins serve to conduct current to isolated drive sources such as drive motors, disposed in hermetically sealed compressor housing shells, from electrically shorting to surrounding electrically conductive areas such as the aforementioned housing shells of compressors. These past arrangements have included surrounding conductive pins with insulated over-surface collars or sleeves, such as the insulating extended sleeve arrangement 23 disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,584,433, issued to B. Bowsky, et al. on Apr. 22, 1986 and the sleeve arrangement 17 disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,471,015, issued to F. Dieter Paterek, et al. On Nov. 28, 1995. These two aforementioned patents were further concerned with conductive pin fusing and with pin design, respectively, attention being particularly directed to the aperture 36 in U.S. Pat. No. 4,580,003, issued to B. Bowsky et al. on Apr. 1, 1986 and to aperture 38 of flattened neck portion 37 of pin 17 above in U.S. Pat. No. 4,584,333, issued to B. Bowsky et. al. on Apr. 22, 1986, and to the relative coefficients of expansion and softening point temperatures in U.S. Pat. No. 5,471,015, issued to F. D. Paterek et. al. on Nov. 28, 1995.
In the present invention, an insulated disk member of select material provides the desirable over-surface construction, this disk member being held in fast position through a unique retention arrangement cooperative with the pin construction. In combination with the novel over-surface disk member, the present invention provides a unique, readily regulatable fuse-like pin construction. Like the co-pending application, Ser. No. 09/188,161, filed 11/07/98, applicants Tariq Quadir, et al, the novel arrangement set forth herein also is straightforward and economical in manufacture, assembly and maintenance, requiring a minimum of operating steps and parts in manufacture, assembly and maintenance.
Various other features of the present invention will become obvious to one skilled in the art upon reading the disclosure set forth herein.
More particularly the present invention provides a unique hermetic terminal assembly comprising: a body member including a generally flat bottom portion and a boundary or flange portion extending along the periphery of the bottom portion, the bottom portion having at least one opening therein; a current conducting pin extending through the bottom portion opening; a stratum of insulating material in close proximity fit to the bottom and boundary portions of the body member, the stratum of insulating material having at least one opening corresponding with the opening of said bottom portion of the body member with the current conducting pin also extending therethrough; insulating pin sealing means extending between and sealing the periphery of said current conducting pin to the periphery of the opening in the bottom portion; and stratum restraining means cooperative with the insulating pin sealing means to restrain the stratum in fast close fit position with respect to the bottom and the boundary portions of the body member.
In addition, the present invention provides for a novel current conductive pin with readily regulatable fuse-like properties, the pin having a preselected length and a preselected cross-sectional area with at least one fuse-like aperture disposed in the pin along the longitudinal axis of the pin a preselected distance from one extremity of the pin, the fuse-like aperture being of a preselected cross-sectional area preselectively dependent upon the geometry of the pin to provide at least one area adjacent the aperture of electrically conductive material, the adjacent area being sized and measured to burn off in fuse-like fashion at a controlled amperage density with one end of the pin adapted to be connected to an electrical supply source and the opposite end to an electrically dependent apparatus.
It is to be understood that various changes can be made by one skilled in the art in one or more of the several parts of the novel structural assembly disclosed herein without departing from the scope or spirit of the present invention.